Written Answers Friday 14 July 2006

Scottish Executive

Asylum Seekers

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will consider changing the terms of the bursary regulations to include children of asylum seekers and unaccompanied asylum seeker children.

Robert Brown: The Scottish Executive has no plans to amend the bursary regulations to include such children. Executive funds to authorities towards the cost of bursaries cease at the end of this financial year, as bursaries are superseded by the Education Maintenance Allowance.

Children and Young People

Ms Rosemary Byrne (South of Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive which local authority areas have a befriending service for children and young people and who operates those services in each area.

Robert Brown: This information is not held centrally. However, via funding to the Laidlaw Youth Project, we have funded a mapping exercise of Mentoring and Befriending services in Scotland. This can be accessed from the Scottish Mentoring Network website:

  http://www.befriending.co.uk/pdfstore/Map_of_Befriending_and_Mentoring_in_Scotland.pdf.

Children and Young People

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive further to the answer to question S2W-18056 by Robert Brown on 10 August 2005, how many referrals there have been to the Reporter to the Children’s Panel regarding children with personal alcohol problems in each year since 2004.

Robert Brown: The Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration holds information relating to the number of referrals to the Children’s Reporter under section 52(2)(j) of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 (i.e. "has misused alcohol or any drug, whether or not a controlled drug within the meaning of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971"). Children referred under section 52(2)(j) are referred because of concerns about their safety. It is not possible to separate alcohol and drug misuse because of the nature of this ground for referral.

  Count of Grounds for Children Referred to the Children’s Reporter Under s52(2)(j)

  

 Year
 


 2004-05
 1,521*



  Note: *SCRA Statistical Footnote: Receipt based.

Children and Young People

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many referrals there have been to the Reporter to the Children’s Panel regarding children with personal drug problems in each year since 1999.

Robert Brown: The Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration holds information relating to the number of referrals to the Children’s Reporter under section 52(2)(j) of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 (i.e. "has misused alcohol or any drug, whether or not a controlled drug within the meaning of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971"). Children referred under section 52(2)(j) are referred because of concerns about their safety. It is not possible to separate alcohol and drug misuse because of the nature of this ground for referral.

  Count of Grounds for Children Referred to the Children’s Reporter under s52(2)(j)

  

 Year
 


 1999-2000
 1,260


 2000-01
 1,272


 2001-02
 1,697


 2002-03
 1,854


 2003-04
 1,969


 2004-05
 1,521*



  Note: *SCRA Statistical Footnote: Receipt based. All other data are disposal based.

Children with Special Needs

Elaine Smith (Coatbridge and Chryston) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many children are estimated to have additional support needs.

Robert Brown: The term additional support needs now applies to children and young people who, for whatever reason, require additional support, long or short-term, in order to help them make the most of their school education. Therefore, it is not possible to estimate accurately the number of pupils with additional support needs at any given time.

  However, the 2006 pupil census will collect statistics on the number of pupils with additional support needs who have co-ordinated support plans and/or individualised educational programmes. Information will also continue to be collected on those pupils with a Record of Needs.

Children with Special Needs

Elaine Smith (Coatbridge and Chryston) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many copies of the code of practice under the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004 have been (a) published and (b) distributed to parents of children with additional support needs.

Robert Brown: The code of practice was produced to provide guidance to local authorities and other agencies with functions under the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004. The Scottish Executive published 13,000 copies of the code of practice and 10,000 these were distributed to a wide range of professionals including those who work in education, health and social work. The remaining number has been distributed on request. However, it is not known how many of these were provided to parents.

  Parents may access the code of practice on the Scottish Executive website for information and advice on exercising their rights under the act. It can be viewed at:

  http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/08/15105817/58187.

Children with Special Needs

Elaine Smith (Coatbridge and Chryston) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to ensure that parents of children with additional support needs can access the code of practice under the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004 so that they have the same information available to them as the appropriate agencies in exercising their rights under the act.

Robert Brown: The code of practice was produced to provide guidance to local authorities and other agencies with functions under the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004. Parents may access the code of practice on the Scottish Executive website for information and advice on exercising their rights under the act. It can be viewed at:

  http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/08/15105817/58187.

  However, the Scottish Executive commissioned Enquire, the national advice service for families of children who require additional support for learning, to produce a guide on the provisions of the act specifically for parents. As of 5 July 2006, 11, 670 copies of the parents’ guide had been issued.

  Enquire also produced a young persons’ guide to the act. As of 5 July 2006, 17, 399 copies of the young persons’ guide had been issued.

Teachers

Richard Lochhead (Moray) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many teachers in each local authority will have completed their probationary year in 2005-06 and how many positions for which they may apply are available (a) nationally and (b) in each local authority.

Robert Brown: The following table provides the number of probationers by local authority on the 2005-06 teacher induction scheme as at 31 May 2006. The vast majority of these will complete their probationary year satisfactorily at the end of term.

  Apart from the snapshot taken in the annual teacher vacancy survey in February, the numbers of teaching posts available are not held centrally.

  

 Local Authority
 Primary
 Secondary
 Total


 Aberdeen, City of
 27
 49
 76


 Aberdeenshire
 76
 54
 130


 Angus
 41
 27
 68


 Argyll and Bute
 17
 12
 29


 Clackmannanshire
 11
 6
 17


 Dumfries and Galloway
 34
 19
 53


 Dundee, City of
 17
 16
 33


 East Ayrshire
 38
 36
 74


 East Dunbartonshire
 24
 40
 64


 East Lothian
 46
 38
 84


 East Renfrewshire
 74
 62
 136


 Edinburgh, City of
 84
 85
 169


 Eilean Siar
 6
 7
 13


 Falkirk
 46
 47
 93


 Fife
 77
 71
 148


 Glasgow, City of
 115
 122
 237


 Highland
 59
 47
 106


 Inverclyde
 7
 18
 25


 Midlothian
 20
 26
 46


 Moray
 30
 28
 58


 North Ayrshire
 53
 46
 99


 North Lanarkshire
 150
 111
 261


 Orkney Islands
 9
 7
 16


 Perth and Kinross
 39
 28
 67


 Renfrewshire
 31
 39
 70


 Scottish Borders
 25
 16
 41


 Shetland Islands
 6
 8
 14


 South Ayrshire
 25
 18
 43


 South Lanarkshire
 91
 120
 211


 Stirling
 29
 43
 72


 West Dunbartonshire
 41
 40
 81


 West Lothian
 33
 30
 63


 Totals
 1,381
 1,316
 2,697

Teachers

Margaret Jamieson (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what tracking mechanism it has in place to ensure that there is appropriate placement of probationer teachers.

Robert Brown: The Scottish Executive, the General Teaching Council for Scotland and Scottish local authorities work in partnership to ensure that every eligible probationer is offered an appropriate one-year teaching post.

Teachers

Margaret Jamieson (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how it ensures that appropriate numbers of teachers are trained each year.

Robert Brown: The Scottish Executive carries out an annual teacher workforce planning exercise to ensure at a national level adequate numbers of newly qualified teachers are trained for publicly funded schools. This takes into account factors such as the age profile of the profession; changing pupil numbers; numbers of new entrants to the profession and those leaving due to resignation, retirement etc. In recent years the exercise has been carried out in the context of our commitment to increase teacher numbers to 53,000 by 2007.

Teachers

Margaret Jamieson (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what measures are in place to ensure that teachers who successfully complete their probation in 2005-06 but who have not obtained teaching posts remain within the education sector.

Robert Brown: The employment of teachers in teaching posts is a matter for education authorities. In order to meet the national target of 53,000 teachers by 2007, additional funding of £18 million in 2006-07 and £44 million in 2007-08 has been provided for the employment of teachers. Before local authorities receive funding for 2007-08 they will be required to commit to a number of teachers which will in total achieve our target.

  We recently decided that a further £14.5 million of central resources would also be distributed through the National Priorities Action Fund for the employment of additional teachers this year, bringing the total additional resources for 2006-07 to £32.5 million. The aim of the additional funding is to allow authorities to increase the number of teachers they employ in 2006-07 over and above previously planned levels.

Teachers

Margaret Jamieson (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what measures are in place to support probationer teachers who are placed in denominational schools for their probationary period and who are not able to apply for posts in denominational schools following successful completion of their probation.

Robert Brown: All probationers on the teacher induction scheme receive the appropriate support from an experienced teacher as their mentor, whether allocated to a denominational or a non–denominational teaching post.

  There is nothing in law to prevent any appropriately qualified teacher from applying for any post in a denominational school.

Teachers

Fiona Hyslop (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many teachers registered with the General Teaching Council for Scotland are not currently employed in Scottish schools.

Robert Brown: This information is not held centrally.

  We do know that as at 1 April 2006, there were 79,162 people on the General Teaching Council for Scotland’s register, of whom 67,364 had their registration fee deducted from salary. However, having fees deducted from salary does not equate to being employed in Scottish schools - staff in, for example, independent sector schools, further education colleges, universities and local authority directorates might also have fees so deducted and some people employed in schools may choose not to have their fees deducted from salary.

Teachers

Fiona Hyslop (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is aware of any problems with the recruitment of teaching staff to meet class reduction and McCrone-related non-contact time targets.

Robert Brown: The recruitment of teachers is a matter for local authorities.

  Overall sufficient teachers have been trained to meet the reduction in class contact time to 22.5 hours in August 2006. There are no interim targets for the delivery of the commitment to reduce class sizes by August 2007, but very good progress continues to be made in training the teachers required to meet our target.

  We are providing additional funds of £18 million to £44 million in 2006 and 2007 for authorities to employ additional teachers. In addition, we will be fully funding around 1,000 probationer teachers each year in 2006 and 2007 who can also be used to meet class contact and class size reductions.

  In addition, we recently decided that a further £14.5 million of central resources would also be distributed through the National Priorities Action Fund for the employment of additional teachers this year over and above previously set employment levels. This brings total additional resources for 2006-07 to £32.5 million.

Teachers

Fiona Hyslop (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many additional full-time equivalent teachers have been recruited in each local education authority area in each of the last three years.

Robert Brown: Table 5.1 of the 2005 Teacher Census shows the year-on-year changes in teacher numbers in each local authority. These figures, expressed in terms of full-time equivalents, can be accessed using the following hyperlink http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/03/28083648/0 .

Teachers

Fiona Hyslop (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of teachers have taken up a permanent post in the school where they completed their probation in each of the last three years.

Marlyn Glen (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many working days were missed by teachers because of stress-related conditions in the most recent year for which figures are available, also broken down by local authority area.

Marlyn Glen (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost of sickness pay to teachers was in the most recent year for which figures are available.

Robert Brown: This information is not held centrally.

Teachers

Fiona Hyslop (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has received any representations from local education authorities in respect of any difficulties of placing probationer teachers in schools.

Robert Brown: No such representations have been received. The teacher induction scheme, which is administered jointly by the Scottish Executive and the General Teaching Council for Scotland, only allocates probationers to local authorities in such numbers that they have indicated they can accommodate.

Teachers

Margaret Smith (Edinburgh West) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how it will ensure that there are sufficient permanent posts available for new teachers at the end of their probationary year.

Robert Brown: The Scottish Executive carries out a national workforce planning exercise to ensure that sufficient new teachers are trained to meet demand in publicly funded schools. The form of contract under which teachers are employed is a matter for local authorities as employers. The Scottish Executive has a target of 53,000 teachers by 2007 and additional funding of £18 million in 2006-07 and £44 million in 2007-08 has been provided for the employment of additional teachers. Before local authorities receive funding for 2007-08 they will be required to commit to a number of teachers which will in total achieve our target.

  We recently decided that a further £14.5 million of central resources would also be distributed through the National Priorities Action Fund for the employment of additional teachers this year. The aim of the additional funding is to allow authorities to increase the number of teachers they employ in 2006-07.

Teachers

Ms Rosemary Byrne (South of Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many teachers have failed to secure permanent posts for the 2006-07 school year following their probationary period.

Robert Brown: This information is not held centrally. The employment of teachers is a matter for local authorities and recruitment will continue up to and on through the 2006-07 school year.

  Newly trained teachers are entitled to a year’s induction and thereafter enter the job market. There is no guarantee of employment, though the number of extra students in teacher education has been set to align with the number of new teachers who need to be employed to achieve the Scottish Executive’s commitment to 53,000 teachers by 2007.

  It should be noted that it is normal that not all new teachers obtain permanent posts immediately. The majority of the remainder are in long-term temporary positions (e.g. covering maternity leave) or are doing short-term supply work.

Teachers

Marlyn Glen (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of the total number of working days lost by teachers was as a result of stress-related conditions in the most recent year for which figures are available.

Robert Brown: This information is not held centrally. The management of teacher absence and the causes of absence are matters for individual local authorities as employers. However, Scottish local authorities are required by law to provide Audit Scotland with sickness absence levels among local government staff, including teachers. This information is not broken down into categories of illness.

  The latest Audit Scotland Corporate Management Performance Indicator for 2004-05 compares the percentage of days lost through sickness absence by teachers with other local government employees. This shows that teachers, at 3.7%, had a lower percentage of days lost than Administrative, Professional, Technical and Clerical staff (5.5%) and Craft and Manual Workers (5.9%).

Correction

The reply to question S2W-25068, which was originally answered on 5 May 2006, has been corrected: see page 8459 or http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/pqa/wa-06/wa0711.htm.